The data are a gut-punch to the hospital industry at a time when health care stakeholders universally insist on reforms that pay for high quality care, rather than quantity. It also underscores the financial risks faced by providers that might be otherwise interested in payment reform but worry it could lead to instability or job losses if they end up losing funds and resources.

One of the study's authors emphasizes that he doesn't believe health systems intentionally cause complications to reap financial gain, but they might slow-walk reform efforts to help their bottom lines.

The study indicates that some movement toward bundled payments -- paying hospital systems fixed rates for different types of care, regardless of whether there's a complication -- has helped reverse the incentive to leave quality issues unaddressed. But most hospitals have yet to transition to such a system.

The study, which was completed in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group and Texas Health Resources, looked at more than 34,000 inpatient surgical procedures performed in 2010 at a nonprofit hospital system in the southern United States. Of those procedures, 1,820 resulted in a complication.